All content area teachers put money and effort into grad school. And I would argue that English is the most important subject, because employers need employees who can communicate well.

I don’t think the lack of science and math teachers will ever become a critical problem. Our society doesn’t much value education, and will not be willing to pay more to attract more teachers to the profession. They would rather have less than highly qualified teachers than pay more in taxes.

Most high schools only require 2 years each of math and science. If the states want to mandate more than that, they’re going to have to cough up the cash to pay for it.

Teachers are underpaid, there is no doubt about it. I have averaged my pay out per hour and I get $26. That may not sound so bad but it does not account for all the hours I put in “off the clock” or the money I put into teaching. To make myself feel better, I try to think of all the terrible teachers there would be if teachers made good money. We would have a lot of people who don’t care about kids in the classroom. They would be there for money and not for the kids.

I too, have often wondered why my hours spent in the classroom are so underfunded. But, I think too about how our salaries are based on 9 months, not 12, so we would be making more if we worked the same amount that other jobs do. Also, our salaries are at the mercy of state taxes. More taxes means better salaries. Many times I think I should get paid more for what I do, especially since I spend a lot of my own money on stuff for teaching. But, I didn’t get into teaching to be rich, and knew that going in. Also, I really like having all that time off. However, I would like to see things change sometime in the future. In my opinion, there are still a lot of people who think teaching is easy and we don’t have a full professional status yet. I am hopeful though.

To the person above me. What is wrong with the money to go with the passion? Are you saying that MD’s have no passion and only operate on you for the money? Or are you saying that MD’s should get paid what teachers make?

Sure, there the arguement that the schooling to become an MD is long and expensive. If an MD get’s 300,000 for 12 years of school I don’t see why a teacher with 4 years shouldn’t get $100,000

Forget about the arguement that we probably bring home more work and spend more of our own money than most other professions. Once a doctor gets off their shift do they go home and operate on their freinds and family? Some do. One that comes to mind is Dr. Hannibal Lector.

As a senior citizen and had to work all my life..I’ve never understood how going to school to learn how to be a teacher works. Experience is the best teacher. How can a person that just reads books and takes tests teach someone how to hook up 440 volts of electricity? How do you make a 550′ tree fall in the direction you want it to? Geometry? That works…but what about the mosquito’s and ticks and blisters on your hands and feet? Huh? I’m a firm believer in the education of our youth..but teach ’em how to live in the real world. We can’t all be computer geniuses. Teach ’em how to make change for $100.00 bill in a fast food joint for an $8.95 tab without the aid of the cash register. Yes..teachers should be compensated more for their efforts…but…some of us out here teach ’em how to make a living and survive without ending a sentence with a preposition or a dangling participle. You see where I’m at? LOL on the last sentence.

i don’t think matth/science teachers are the only ones being underpaid. if you increase their salary and leave other content areas at a lower salary you will see a mass exodus from the teaching profession of those lesser paid content areas.

the argument is usually that math/science is a more ‘valuable’ teaching area. but you can’t force a child to be good at science or math. the whole point of school is to give students a broad spectrum of subjects so they can hopefully find one or two they are good at. raising the pay of only certain teachers will cause others to leave or avoid the profession altogether. giving students less choice as to the subjects they are exposed to and causing more of them to lose interest in school and drop out.

Teachers did not select their career based on income. They always wanted to be teachers no matter their income. Now you can take other responsibilities to earn additional income through Internet. With a teacher as First lady for two terms with no real changes…don’t count on it.

I have heard today the position of Govt. schools and felt very sorry.

teachers should not be paid a lot of money. its a job people should do for passion not for money. if one does not like it enough to do it for a low wage than one should think about a job elsewhere.